Device for the surface treatment of metallic or non-metallic objects



May 21, 1957 K. CAHN 2,792,809

DEVICE FOR THE suamcs TREATMENT OF METALLIC 0R NON-METALLIC OBJECTS 8 sheets sheet 1 Filed March 9, 1954 ATTORNEY May 21, 1957 K. CAHN 2,792,809

DEVICE FOR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC OR NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Filed March 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR km L CH HN BY %0A.4 WEI J11 ATTORNEY May 21, 1957 OR NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Filed March 9, 1954 K. CAHN DEVICE FOR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC 8 Sheets-Shae T. 5

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DEVICE FOR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC OR NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Filed March 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 FlG.3

INVENTOR ATTORNEY May 21, 1957 CAHN 2,792,809

DEVICE FUR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC 0R NON-METALLIC OBJECTS 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 9, 1954 5%.; ES 5. So! a! on A N! Q m! m! T w! z: $F m2 09 3P 3F 0% m! 9: m9 5. m9 N9 5 om 0mm 03 mmm 1% E 3? mm, 5. Ex $1 F m: Q IQ I m: fl A E mm 8- 8, Q; R. mm" 5 ATTORNEY May 21, 1957 K. CAHN 2,792,809

osvxcs FOR THE SURFAGE TREATMENT OF METALLIC 0R NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Filed March 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 um Q) I '1 2 m O O kl' I Q I o 2 'w Lu. M o o {w It u l in I: 2 1mm I m INVENTOR A HRL (WP/N B micldi ATTORNEY May 21, 1957 K. CAHN 2,792,809 DEVICE FOR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC OR NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Filed March 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 I z Illllk FIE-.7

INVENTOR KHRL CHH V BY %vlm Ill/CA4 ATTORNEY May 21. 1957 CAHN 2,792,809

DEVICE FOR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC 0R NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Filed March 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 FIG. 8

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INVENTOR KHRL C/ H V ATTORNEY United States Patent DEVICE FOR THE SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC 0R NON-METALLIC OBJECTS Karl Cahn, Ankeveen, Netherlands, assignor to N. V. Metallic Industry, Loosdrecht, Netherlands Application hiarch 9, 1954, Serial No. 415,105

Claims priority, application Netherlands November 15, 1952 5 Claims. (Cl. 118--423) The invention relates to a device for the surface treatment of metallic or non-metallic articles in treating baths whereby the members supporting said articles are moved in a predetermined cycle lover a guide means. It is usual in such devices, such as e. g. galvanizing devices, to interconnect the supporting members for the workpieces with a cable, chain or the like, by means of which said workpieces are simultaneously driven with a speed which necessarily depends on the longest time during which a work piece should be at a certain treating station. This method, consequently, comprises a rigid control. In said known device the guide means further has portions which reciprocate in vertical direction in order to lower into a treating bath a supporting member presem on such a portion tog-ether with the work pieces mounted or hung thereon or to lift the same out of said bath again. A device is also known in which various treating stations are combined to groups, each group *having a separate guide means adapted to a possibly most favourable operating speed for the driving chain. The described known devices are all complicated due to the drive of the movable parts, whilst in the device of the last mentioned kind separate means are still required for the transport of the workpieces from the one to the other group. Also a galvanizing device is known in which the supporting members for the workpieces are provided with levers which are rockable in a vertical plane, which levers are simultaneously guided over a guide adjacent the guide means for the supporting members along the treating stations so that the work pieces may be brought into or out of the treating baths by a swinging movement of the levers. The construction of such a device, evidently, is complicated and has the drawback of the simultaneous drive.

The invention provides a device of the kind described above, in which the drawbacks of the known devices are eliminated and which nevertheless has a relatively simple construction. For that purpose each of the supporting members comprises a carriage which is moved by means of a separate electric driving motor over a fixed guide means. Each carriage has a suspension rack connected at one end thereto for supporting the articles to be treated. The guide means preferably constitutes a fixed guide which follows substantially the line along which the vessels containing the treating baths are positioned. Preferably, the treating bath vessels are arranged behind one another. As each of the supporting members has a sepanate driving motor it may be possible to obtain a difierent speed at different stations along the guide, however care should be taken that the mutual distance between adjacent supporting members should not fall below a certain minimum distance. The movement of the separate supporting members then may be such that a workpiece should remain the correct time in the correct treating place for a particular treatment in order not to affect the treating time for another workpiece.

As the guide is fixed its support may be carried out in a simple manner. Due to the presence of level dif- 2,792,809 Patented May 21, 1957 ferences in the guide it will be possible to arrange a portion of the guide e. g. on another floor of the workshop or the factory which in particular adapted to special treatments.

In the device according to the invention the electric motors are fed with the aid of current collectors and current conducting contact strips present along the guide, whereby the contact strips may have different voltages at dilferent locations along said guide. In this manner the device may be operated entirely automatically, e. 3. according to a predetermined time scheme.

The device according to the invention is furthermore characterized in that the guide has portions which are positioned at ditferent levels with regard to the top of said containers in such a manner that the raised portions are located over the vertical partitions between the containers, in order to form vertical loops bridging said partitions. By a suitable choice of the difference in level in the guide at the location of such a partition, e. g. a wall of. a container, it will be possible to dip the workpieces held by a supporting member into the corresponding bath or to lift them out of the bath without making use of separate means. Here the guide as well as the part of a supporting member cooperating therewith remains out of contact with the liquid bath.

In an embodiment of the device according to the invention the guide is so located that the projection of the interconnected sections arranged at different levels constitutes an endless curve and has substantially horizontal portions lying at at least two levels with intermediate vertical portions, the portions of the guide which are arranged at an angle being interconnected by bights. Furthermore by horizontal" parts of the guide should also be understood those parts of the guide which have a minimum dimension in horizontal direction, e. g. where the treating time of the workpiece is very short and consequently the longitudinal dimension of the container is small.

In another embodiment the guide is arranged in such a manner that the projection of said interconnected sections of the guide constitutes an endless curve and has substantially horizontal portions lying at at least two levels with intermediate vertical portions, the adjacent portions of the guide which are arranged at an angle with respect to one another, are releasably interconnected by a short straight guide section which is rotatably supported in its center on a fixed shaft which is arranged at the point of intersection between the center lines of said adjacent guide sections which are arranged at an angle with respect to one another, for passing the carriage from one guide portion to another. In this manner, bights in the guide may be avoided, which consequently, need to consist only of straight portions and intermediate point-like passages. Due thereto the construction of the guide bceomes economically attractive and the realization of the supporting member portions cooperating with the guide may be made more simply.

The invention will be elucidated with the aid of some embodiments of the device according to the invention represented in the drawings.

Fig. l is a cross section along line 1-1 of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2, in which the guide has mainly a hexagonal section and in which the straight horizontal and vertical portions of the guide are interconnected by bights.

In Fig. la is shown a supporting member in detail and at an enlarged scale.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross section along line III-III of the device shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 4 is a point-system for an automatically operating device.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of another embodiment of the device according to the invention in which the guide has a mainly C-shaped section and consists of straight horizontal and vertical portions and in which the said portions are interconnected by point-like shaped passages.

Fig. 6 represents a side view of a supporting member applied with the embodiment according to Figure 5, with the guide illustrated in section.

Fig. 7 is a side view of the supporting member, the guide path being turned about 90 in respect of the representation in Figure 6, in which the lower part of the driving electric motor is cut away.

Fig. 8 is a cross section of a point-like shaped passage between a horizontally and vertically arranged portion of the guide.

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section along line lX-IX of the guide shown in Fig. 8.

In the Figures 1, 2 and 3 is shown a device for the galvanization of workpieces which are suspended from or are attached to supporting member 1 which via a discharge and loading station 2 move along a number of treating stations, such as e. g. successively a purifying, rinsing, galvanizing. rinsing, polishing, rinsing bath and finally a drying furnace, indicated by 3 to 9 respectively. Due to the fact that each of the supporting members has its own driving mechanism in the form of an electric motor 10. each of said members comprises a carriage which is movable with a speed which may be different at different locations along the guide path 11. For that purpose the motor 10 drives a driving roller 13 via a transmission (not shown) which roller together with a set of guide rollers 14 keep the guide 11 clamped between them with the aid of strong springs (not represented).

The guide 11 (Figures 2, 3) is fixed and has portions 110, which are at a lower level than portions 11b, which portions are connected by vertical portions He. The portions interconnecting the vertical and the horizontal portions of the guide have been maintained so small. that the resiliently arranged rollers 13, 14 are not hindered hereby, whilst the longitudinal dimension of the guide is as small as possible. As appears from Figures 2 and 3, the position of a liquid bath, e. g. the purifying bath 3 corresponds with a portion 11a of the guide lying at a lower level whereby the dimension of the said portion 111: seen in longitudinal direction of the guide is smaller than that of the bath 3. in the embodiment the difference in height between the parts 110 and 11b has been chosen so that during the movement of a supporting member along the guide a workpiece suspended from or attached to said member is lifted from a bath, is passed over the edge of the bath and is dipped, if desired, into a subse quent bath. in this manner the provision of complicated and heavy supports requiring lifting devices, with which either the entire guide or a part thereof is movable in vertical direction. is avoided.

Of course, in order to obtain a special treatment for the workpiece both appertaining portions 110 may be longer than indicated above for raising a workpiece, e. g. so as to arrange a certain part of the guide on another floor of the workspace which has been adapted to said particular treatment.

The section of the guide may have the shape of a regular hexagon. as represented in Fig. l. The fiat sides of the guide then may serve various purposes. To prevent rotation of a supporting member in respect of the axis 15 of the guide, the planes 16, 17 may be chosen as running surfaces for the rollers 13, 14, whilst the guide may be supported e. g. at the plane 18.

The conduits for the supply of current to the electric motors 10 are attached to the plane 15a of the guide and are insulated therefrom and are arranged parallel to each other and to the direction of the axis 15. In the embodiment three conduits 19 are shown which are supported by an insulation. By the arrangement of suitably chosen interruptions of the conduits, replacing switches for instance. and a correct choice of the various points of supply on those conduits, the required control of the separately driven supporting members may be realized. Furthermore the guide consists of separate straight pieces and bights in which the appertaining conduits are arranged in such a manner that those conduits, when interconnecting the separate pieces, are joined in a correct manner. Hereby it is possible to alter the course of the guide at will in a rather simple way, either for applying various treating baths, or for arranging other differences in level.

A suitable arrangement of the conduit 20 for the galvanizing current may be obtained by supporting this conduit insulated from the guide, approximately at the same level with the edge 21 of the galvanizing bath 5 (Fig. l). The conduit may have a vertical part 20a (Fig. 3) adjacent to an end wall of said bath. In this manner it will be possible to have the workpiece at the supporting member under tension before immersion thereof into the liquid. When a supporting member is moving along the said bath a second brushholder 22 attached to the supporting member is in electric contact with the conduit 20 via its brushes, so that the galvanizing current may be fed to the workpieces via a flexible cable 23 and a suspension rack 24. The rack 24 is attached to a horizontal arm 26 of the supporting member 1 via an insulating hinge 25, so that on movement of the supporting member during which movement the arm 26 always remains in a horizontal position, the rack with the workpieces may maintain a vertical position. The rack is unhooked from the arm together with the treated workpieces in the discharge and loading station 2 and is replaced by a new rack provided with workpieces to be treated.

In Figure 4 a scheme is represented with the aid of which the speed of any supporting member may be controlled. The electric motor 10 consists of a direct current motor chosen on account of its favorable work characteristic and the presence of direct current. The current conducting means comprises two stator rails 117, 118 and two rotor rails 119, 120. From the 220 volts A. C. lines 121, 122 the rails 117, 118 and the parts 119, of the rotor rails are supplied with a 42 volts direct tension via a control transformer 123 and a rectifying circuit 124. The parts 125, 126 of the rotor rails are supplied with a 6 volts direct tension from the said A. C. lines via a control transformer 127 and a rectifying circuit 128. The rotor rails are further subdivided into sections 129143 which sections may be brought by intermediate connections 144148 into connection with each other and/or with the stator rails 117, 118 with the aid of a time switch 159, which is adjusted at approximately 1 minute. A polarity reversing switch 160 alternately supplies section 130 with positive and negative voltage and section with negative and positive voltage, respectively. Switch may be mechanically operated, for instance by means of a motor driving a cam shaft, the cam causing the switch handle continuously to switch from one position to another. However care should be taken that the voltage which causes a carriage to move forward from section 130 or 140 has a longer duration than the voltage which causes said carriage to move rearwardly. It thus will be possible to move a carriage alternately a distance forward and backward in such a manner that the combined movement is forwardly. Since the remaining sections always have a voltage which causes a carriage to move forwardly (positive voltage) a short circuit will occur when a certain carriage is passing from a section which has always positive voltage to a section whose voltage changes alternately from positive to negative and at that moment happens to be negative.

To avoid such a short circuiting, section 139 and magnet switch 161 are provided. Section 139 has no voltage at all in case the potentials between sections 129-130 and 137-140 are opposite.

In the manner described a supporting member or carriage 1 moving from the left to the right in Figure 5, will have a speed of cm./sec. along the part 120, along the part 126 a speed of l cm./sec., along the part 132 a speed of 10 cm./sec., will stand still on the part 133, have a speed of 10 cm./sec. along the part 134, will stand still on the part 135, have a speed of 10 cm./sec. on the part 136, stand still on the part 137, will have a speed of 10 cm./sec. on the part 138, will reciprocate with a speed of 10 cm./sec. along the part 140, will have again a speed of 10 cm./sec. on the part 141, will stand still on the part 142 and will finally have a speed of 10 cm./sec. on the part 143 connected to the part 120 (just as the parts 131 and 119).

The scheme described applies to a certain series of treatments and may be varied in a simple way. Once adjusted each carriage 1, its suspension rack 24 and its associated workpieces will be guided automatically in the correct way along the treating stations 3--8, only a manipulation carried out by a workman being required, at the discharge and loading stations 2, 9.

.ln Fig. 5 is diagrammatically shown a further embodiment of the device according to the invention, wherein the portions corresponding to the device described before are indicated with the same characters. The endless guide 11 has been cut open at a certain point and has been folded in a plan for the sake of clearness. Thus the points I and II of the guide correspond to each other. The racks connected to the carriages carrying the workpieces are indicated by the characters AK. The guide path 11 has a [-shaped cross section (Fig. 6) and comprises merely straight horizontal portions 11a, 11b and straight vertical portions 110. Two adjacent portions 11!) and 11c which are arranged at an angle, are interconnected by means of a point-like passage 116, such as shown in detail in Figures 8 and 9. It appears from the drawing that the device has a lower horizontal portion 11a having such a length that several supporting members may be at the same time on said portion, so that the corresponding racks and workpieces C, D and E are at the same time in a bath. The workpiece E happens to be in a pointlike passage 112, as is the case with the workpieces B and J. The guide has also a lower horizontal portion 11a having a shorter length, on which is only a single supporting member carrying the workpiece F. The guide further has portions having a minimum length in the direction of movement of the supporting members for a very short treating time of the workpieces, i. e. at those locations where are the workpieces G, H, I and K. The supporting members merely move upwardly and downwardly along the vertical straight portion 110'.

A device as just has been described has the advantage that the longitudinal dimension of the device may be shorter than the device described before, whereas the manufacture is as simple as possible since only straight portions of the guide have to be constructed.

Both devices described above may be extended at will in a simple manner by the application of a guide portion and thus may be adapted to other treating methods for the workpieces. It is also possible to adapt the device according to the invention to a treating method which differs substantially from the treating method as has been described in accordance with the Figs. 1-3 of the drawings. For instance the treating times for the workpieces in the various baths may be varied independently from each other or different deposits may be obtained on the workpieces.

In the Figs. 6 and 7 is shown a supporting member or carriage 1' which may be used in accordance with a guide 11' having a [-shaped cross section. In this case four conductors 19 are present for feeding an electric urrent to the drive motor 10'. Said motor drives a toothed gear 62 which eoqpergtgs with a toothed rack 63-p pvided along the guide 1],. The end portion of a supporting rack 24. has been connected to the motor frame. In order to withstand the forces acting on the guide due to the supporting racks being loaded by the workpieces, the supporting member has been provided with four guide rollers 13' and four guide rollers 14'.

In the Figures 8 and 9 is shown a point-like passage lle, interconnecting two upper horizontal guide portions 11b and a vertical guide portion 11c, for instance the passage indicated with the arrow 84 in Fig. 5. The toothed gear 62, driven by the motor 10 is adapted to cooperate with a toothed gear 64 which has been provided at an interruption of a toothed rack 65 which is adapted to be brought into line with the toothed rack 63 provided on the horizontal and vertical portions 11b and 11c respectively of the guide 11', said gear 64 being supported by a bearing 66. Said toothed rack 65 and said bearing 66 are provided on a guide portion 67. The shaft has been fixed to a shaft 68 which is positioned at the point of intersection between the center lines of guide sections 11b and 110', substantially in line with shaft 69 or motor 10' when it arrives in the position shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Shaft 68 is rotatably supported in a fixed sleeve 70 which has gear 72 attached to its end facing section 67, gear 72 cooperating with gear 71. Rotation of the guide portion 67 is obtained by means of the toothed gears 62, 64, 71 (which is united with the toothed gear 64) and 72. The edges of the guide portion 67 and also the edges of the vertical and horizontal guide portions and 11!) facing the shaft 68, are circular.

If the supporting member 1' passes from the left guide portion 11b to the portion 67, one of the guide rollers 14 will abut against a stud 73, which stud may be withdrawn on energizing of a magnet coil 74. Since movement of the supporting member 1' is prevented by the stud 73 and the motor 10' maintains the drive of the toothed gear 62, the rotatable portion 67 will be rotated by rotation of its shaft 68 in the sleeve 70, due to the gear transmission 64, 71, 72, until the toothed rack 65 and the flanges of the portion 67 correspond to the toothed rack 63 and the flanges of the guide portion 11c, respectively, for instance by abutment of portion 67 against a stud (not shown). At this moment the magnet coil 74 is energized to withdraw the stud 73 so that the carriage may continue its movement downwardly along the vertical portion 110'.

After the lapse of a certain time corresponding to the treating time of the workpieces K suspended from the supporting member. the latter moves upwardly along the portion 11c and again one of its guide rollers abuts against the stud 73. The portion 67 will then be rotated by means of the gear transmission 64, 71, 72 which is driven by the motor gear 62, till the toothed rack 65 again corresponds to the rack 63 on the right hand guide portion 11b, which may be obtained by abutment of said portion 67 against a stud (not shown). At the same time the stud 73 will be withdrawn on energizing the magnet coil 74 so that the supporting member may resume its horizontal movement. however along the right hand guide portion 11!).

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for the surface treatment of articles in treating baths, comprising a series of treating bath containers arranged on a line behind one another; a plurality of members for supporting and moving said articles in a predetermined cycle, each of said members including a carriage; a separate electric driving motor for each carriage; a suspension rack connected at one end to each of said carriages for supporting said articles; guide means constituting a fixed guide for said supporting members and following substantially the line along which said containers are arranged, said guide means including sections positioned at different levels with respect to the top of said containers, the sections being interconnected to form loops bridging partitions between adjacent containers for lifting the articles over said partitions, the ends of said guide being interconnected; and driving means cooperating with the guide means for moving the carriages along the guide.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said driving means comprises separate conductors supported on said guide, a source of electric potential connected to each of said conductors, current collectors for contacting said conductors attached to said carriages and for supplying an electric current to said electric motors, the electric potential of said sources being different at different stations along said guide.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the guide comprises a raised portion located over each of the vertical partitions between the containers.

4 The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the projection of the interconnected sections for the guide constitutes and endless curve, tile guide comprising substantially horizontal sections arranged on at least two different levels and intermediate substantially vertical sections, whereby adjacent sections of the guide which are arranged at an angle with respect to one another are interconnected by means of bights.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the projection of the interconnected sections of the guide constitutes an endless curve, the guide comprising substantially horizontal sections, adjacent ones of said horizontal sections being arranged at an angle with respect to one another, short straight guide sections for releasably interconnecting said horizontal sections, fixed shafts for rotatably supporting said straight guide sections at their centers, said shafts being arranged at the point of intersection between the center lines of said adjacent horizontal sections, whereby said carriages are passed from one guide section to another.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,876,050 Fox Sept. 6, 1932 1,925,134 Carroll et al. Sept. 5, 1933 2,382,194 Wood Aug. 14, 1945 2,536,720 Brightly Jan. 2, 1951 

